Professor John Robertson OBA
BBC Scotland and STV today have short reports on the higher level of Huntington’s disease in the North of Scotland but with no useful content to inform and to educate readers in the manner they often claim to do, leaving readers with just another ‘Scotland is ****’ story that they can quietly associate with 18 years of SNP-rule.
When I saw this, I thought straightaway, vitamin D deficiency, as with MS, also more prevalent in the north.
While as yet not conclusive, emerging evidence can be found:
Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency are common in older institutionalized people and known to be associated with muscle weakness, impaired balance and increased fall risk. Falls and balance problems are common in people with Huntington disease (HD). Despite this, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in patients with manifest HD has never been investigated. Serum 25(OH)D levels were measured in routinely drawn blood samples from 28 Dutch institutionalized patients with manifest Huntington disease.
Mean serum 25(OH)D level was 33 nmol/l (SD 15). Twenty-five subjects (89%) were vitamin D deficient or insufficient (25(OH)D < 50 nmol/L). A positive association was found between serum 25(OH)D levels and Functional Ambulation Classification (FAC) scores (p = 0.023).
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/derm.26135#d1e174
In 2016 and again in 2021, the Scottish Government took steps to increase vitamin D levels in care homes:
In January 2021, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) wrote to care homes recommending that the provision of vitamin D supplementation should be considered for all adult care home residents taking account of their needs and preferences. This was based on advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) which has, since 2016, recommended an intake of 10 μg (400 IU) throughout the year for groups including adults living in care homes at risk of having vitamin D below the recommended concentration levels.
The situation in the North of Scotland today, as reported, does of course, have longer roots in early childhood and ancestry and confused government actions in the 1950s may have made things worse with regard to vitamin D levels:
In 1952 an outbreak of failure to thrive and hypercalcaemia, occasionally fatal, was described amongst infants and young children. Excessive intakes of vitamin D were suggested as a causative factor. At that time, cod liver oil compounds, infant milks and cereals were all fortified with vitamin D. The Ministry of Health and the Department of Health for Scotland concluded in 1957 that infants had unnecessarily high intakes of vitamin D and the levels in cod liver oil compound, infant milks and cereals, were reduced (British Paediatric Association, 1956; Ministry of Health and Department of Health for Scotland, 1957). In 1960, the incidence of idiopathic hypercalcaemia was believed by many British paediatricians to have decreased since reduction of the vitamin D content of various infant foods and supplements. Although it was generally inferred that a causal relation between vitamin D and infantile hypercalcaemia had been established, rigorous epidemiological evidence of a reduction in incidence was not available (Fraser, 1967).
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sacn-update-on-vitamin-d-2007
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
don’t believe Huntingdons is caused by any ‘lack of’ anything. It is a generic illness that currently has no real treatment or cure. Probably one of the worst illnesses for any person and family to deal with.
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it is genetic. One copy of the relevant gene inherited from a parent is all that is required.
Onset is usually between 30 to 50 years of age but can be older or younger – juvenile Huntingtons.
As to Vit D you have to be careful with the dosage – too much can lead to serious health problems eg kidney stones, kidney failure.
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Yes the usual dose of Scotland is getting much worse under the SNP. Apparently every Scot is now at risk of swimming in the sea due to rapid rise in sewage spills, increased risk of dying from Flu or the myriad of other conditions that the SNP should be protecting us from or women being sexually attacked by rampant transgenders at least that is before our legal masters intervened and saved them from such an ordeal (just in case they were worried about contamination from wild swimming and sought the safety of the local pool changing area instead). And that is just from STV so we can expect armageddon from Rep Scot which should carry a general health risk warning.
ALL SUMMED UP….. VOTE FOR ANYONE OTHER THAN THE SNP TO AVOID PUTTING YOURSELF AT RISK.
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Thanks for repeating what ‘STV’ have propagandised about then! I’ll be voting for SNP ta!
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You posted this without irony? The blog is called Talking up Scotland.
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Lack of sunshine.
Less migrants to inter marry or form relationships to dilute prominent genes. Inter racial personnel do better.
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? People with darker skin for sure need more exposure to sun, or supplements to get adequate VitD when living in colder northern countries.
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This is based on a new study by the University of Aberdeen who state that…
“The study, published in Neuroepidemiology, confirmed that Northern Scotland has one of the highest rates of Huntington’s disease in the world at 14.5 per 100,000 people, it is more than five times the estimated worldwide rate of 2.71 per 100,000 people.”
True number of people living with Huntington’s disease gene in Northern Scotland revealed | News | The University of Aberdeen
In 2010 a study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine stated that…
“Previous studies based on 15 locations in the UK produced an estimated prevalence of 6.7 cases per 100,000 population. However, Professor Rawlins points out that the Huntington’s Disease Association (HDA)-a not-for-profit organisation that provides services for patients with the disease and their families in England and Wales-currently cares for 6702 people with symptoms. Professor Rawlins says: “Specialist neurologists have referred all of them, so their diagnoses can hardly be in doubt. From these numbers alone, the minimum prevalence in England and Wales must therefore be at least 12·4 per 100 000.”
Since the HDA does not cover all areas of England and Wales, Professor Rawlins says even this 12·4 per 100 000 estimate must be an underestimate.”
Huntington’s disease greatly underestimated in the UK | LSHTM
With the bold statement from Aberdeen University that “The number of people who have the gene that causes Huntington’s disease in Northern Scotland has been accurately counted for the first time in 35 years” and England and Wales at 12.4 per 100 000, with not all areas covered and being an “underestimate” might the figures be the same or even higher than Scotland at 14.5 per 100 000?
JB
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